Faculty

David Ashley, Ph.D. (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)
is a professor in the Department of Biology at Missouri Western State
University with teaching and research interests in cave ecology and
invertebrate biology. At RBS, he teaches the Cave Biology course.
Dr. Ashley is a member of the Missouri Academy of Science, the Council
for Undergraduate Research, Beta Beta Beta Undergraduate Biology Honor
Society, National Speleological Society, Missouri Speleological Survey,
and the Missouri Cave and Karst Conservancy.

Jan Barber, Ph.D. (University of Texas–Austin)
is interested in the evolutionary relationships among flowering plants
and how those relationships provide a framework for interpreting and
understanding biological processes such as hybridization, chromosomal
evolution and species diversification. At RBS, she teaches the Spring
Flora of the Ozarks course. Dr. Barber holds a faculty appointment in
the Biology Department at Saint Louis University and is also a Research
Associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.

Thomas Valone, Ph.D. (University of Arizona)
is a professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Louis University
with teaching and research interests in arid ecosystem ecology and
conservation and the behavioral ecology of information use. His
research in arid ecosystems examines factors that affect the diversity
of mammals, birds and plants. Dr. Valone currently serves as the
Director of Reis Biological Station.

Robert Wood, Ph.D. (University of Alabama)
studies the phylogenetic systematics and historical biogeography of
percid and cyprinid fishes. His research involved the application of
molecular and morphological methods to the resolution of questions
regarding the evolution of the North American freshwater fish fauna
with particular emphasis on species- and population-level genetic
analysis of darters. He is currently Chair of the Department of
Biology at Saint Louis University. At RBS, Dr. Wood teaches courses in
Aquatic Ecology and Natural History of Vertebrates.